Support for Fine Gael has fallen to 22 per cent, a decline of 4 percentage points, according to a new opinion poll by Red C.

The poll, commissioned by The Sunday Business Post, was based on sampling the majority of which was carried out before the new version of the water charges regime was announced by the Government on Wednesday.

The fall in support for Fine Gael means the party is now 14 percentage points behind the party’s support level in the last election.

In fact, the party is now below the level of support it achieved in the 2007 and 2002 elections.

Fine Gael is now tied with support on 22 per cent with Sinn Féin.

The poll commissioned by The Sunday Business Post, shows support for Labour and Fianna Fail unchanged at 8 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

Independents and Sinn Féin registered a 2 percentage point increase each, with Independents now accounting for 30 per cent support.

If the poll results were replicated in the next general election Labour would likely be reduced to a handful of seats while Fine Gael would expect to hold around 40 seats, a loss of almost 30.

The poll suggests the coalition has performed well in the eyes of voters on economic reform and recovery but has been hurt by the water charges.